WORK EXPERIENCE

Director and Creative Lead at Wolves Creativeongoing since February 2014

I founded Wolves as an umbrella agency for my creative and professional pursuits. My team of trusted collaborators are made up of talented producers, cinematographers, creative directors, designers, editors and motion graphics artists. We specialize in creative, character driven video production for brands, artists and social enterprises. As producer and lead creative I'm the first point of contact for most new and old clients. In our early efforts we executed a product launch video for StarMaker Interactive, which premiered on Mashable. My role included project manager, director and post producer. Our follow up press coverage was on USA Today for a music video for LA musician Katie Burden. I filled the role of production manager, hired a majority of crew and worked as post producer, carrying the project through to its launch.

Senior Video Producer at MKSHFT CLLCTVSeptember 2011 to January 2014

I worked at this media production company start up shortly after its inception. I took on a slew of projects ranging from one man video shoots all the way to producing shoots with up to twenty people on set. I was most often the client facing producer, project manager and lead creative collaborator, working closely with the client to pinpoint key goals and translating that into executable video concepts.

Film Instructor at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking ongoing since September 2012

I educate people of all ages on the introductory aspects of the video and filmmaking process, including technical understandings of DSLR cameras and lenses, shooting, lighting, coloring and editing. I also lecture about scriptwriting and story and character development, which culminates in workshopping environment on each project where students analyze and discuss best approaches to their stories to meet their end goal.

Video Producer at CBS Interactive, CHOW.com August 2010 to August 2011

I shot and edited various videos for ongoing award winning series— including all aspects of post production, creating basic motion graphics, coloring, audio editing, exporting and final delivery for various global online distribution channels.

Playwriting Mentor for Incarcerated Youth at Each One Reach One ongoing since May 2010

I guide incarcerated youth one-on-one in the process of writing one act metaphorical and oftentime semi-autobiographical plays which are later performed by volunteer actors in a staged reading. The two week process involves a breakdown of the basics of plot, character and story development, as well as a constant reinforcement and encouragement to self reflect and probe issues and concepts close to one's self.

This experience has lead me to develop the Reach Out, an animated series based on plays written these incarcerated youth.

HONORS & AWARDS

Berlinale Talents Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin: February 2012

Annual summit and networking platform of the Berlin International Film Festival for 300 emerging film creatives from all over the world. Nearly 5000 filmmakers apply annually.

MacDowell Artist Colony New Hampshire, March 2012

I spent one month at the prestigious MacDowell Colony writing the first draft of my feature film script, The Purple Onion. The highly selective colony provides an all expense paid retreat into the woods, with room and board provided, emphasising interdisciplinary interaction, among composers, writers, architects, film and video artists, playwrights, interdisciplinary artists, and visual artists.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Purple Onion: debut feature length film Premiering in early 2015

I independently crowdfunded $20K for the production budget for my debut feature film. I'm also the writer, director, producer and editor.

Selected as a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab in 2012, the most prestigious independent filmmaking labs.

Selected as a finalist for the the Berlinale Talent Project Market in 2012, taking place during the Berlinale Film Festival, a prestigious and competitive film development network

Selected as a finalist for the IFP Lab, the oldest filmmaker support network in the US

WRITINGS

Five Lessons From a Work-in-Progress Screening / Filmmaker Magazine April 2014 (LINK)

In Pursuit of The Purple Onion / Filmmaker Magazine December 2012 (LINK)

Sundance Lab American-Chinese-European Co-Production. Or is it? / Film Courage December 2012 (LINK)

EDUCATION

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles

I earned a BA in Humanities, a minor in creative writing, and graduated with honors. I was on the Dean’s List for all semesters, received the New Program of the Year Award for founding and running the on campus literary club and publication, SpeakEasy, which received highly selective school funding in its second semester of operation.

National Polish Film School, Lodz, Poland

I studied abroad in Poland in one of Europe's oldest and esteemed institutions for cinema studies, focusing on theater and film directing. I received a certificate of completion.

Middle College, De Anza Cupertino

I was selected into this accelerated program as a senior in high school, finished my required classes at De Anza Junior College, where I studied film history and illustration.

Academy of Art College, San Francisco

During two summers while still in highschool I studied figure drawing, cartooning, claymation and oil painting. This was before AA was a University.

Matt worked tirelessly to get us a great video in a very, very short window of time at a reasonable price. He was communicative and made sure to manage us as the client so that we didn't hold up the deadline. I look forward to working with Matt again in the future.

-- Meg Ciarallo VP of Marketing, Branding and Social at San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com

I cannot recommend highly enough working with Matt and the Wolves team. Their planning, execution, creativity, and professionalism are unmatched.

My company hired Wolves to be the creative force behind our first brand anthem video. They were with us from start to finish – providing exception insight into every aspect of the creative process: the ideation of the project, casting, location scouting, logistics. Their team came to every meeting surrounding the project with enthusiasm and fantastic ideas that helped shape the piece in exactly the direction we wanted.

The days of the shoot were well organized and an absolute blast. Matt and his team came with a great attitude every day, stayed on task and on schedule, and ensured that every detail was attended to and in line with the spirit of the project. [...]

In the end, the project came out better than any of us could have expected, and every bit of that is owed to the talents of Matt and the Wolves team. There is no question that we would work with them again in the future, and I would recommend them to anyone seeking to have a creative project done to perfection.

While we were in the UK they pulled together a stellar crew in less than three days. Once we arrived in San Francisco everything we needed for our Bebo.com shoot was sorted.

The shoot itself was run extremely professionally and an ambitious schedule was managed without a hitch or going into overtime. But perhaps the main reason we would definitely use them again next time we are in SF is that they are such fun to work with (that said Matt's attempt at an English accent is terrible.)

If you are considering working with them we could not recommend them more strongly.